"The good news is they found Michael Jordan's replacement as the most marketable athlete in the world, and the best athlete in the world."

The downside, Williams said, is that golf is a niche sport that doesn't reach the masses and doesn't have the television ratings the NBA pulled in during the Jordan era.

The deal is worth an estimated $100 million for five years, according to a source close to the negotiations who spoke on condition of anonymity. It is believed to be the richest endorsement contract in sports, depending on how that is defined.

Williams said Jordan made as much as $25 million a year, depending on sales. Former heavyweight champion George Foreman recently sold his likeness to Salton Inc., which makes barbecue grills, for $137.5 million in cash and stocks.

But that was a lifetime deal. Woods' new contract expires in 2006 when he will be 30 and just hitting the prime of his career.

"The value Nike received on the first contract caused me to come to my conclusion that it would be chump change," his father, Earl Woods, said of the five-year, $40 million deal that raised eyebrows in 1996.

"And this contract will be chump change compared to the next one, because Tiger is only going to get bigger and better."

While not discussing specifics of the contract, Nike Golf president Bob Wood said money was not the best way to measure Woods' worth.

"We don't even look at it like that that," he said. "When the first one came out, everyone said, 'What the hell did you do that for?' His representation is enough to reinforce everything we say about ourselves competitiveness, excellence and a desire to be better."